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Paths to Women’s Economic Empowerment DISCUSSION PAPER

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Paths to Women’s Economic Empowerment

DISCUSSION PAPER

Prepared in support of the Indian Ocean Rim Association’s Women's Economic

Empowerment, with Focus on Tourism & Textiles in the IORA Countries Dialogue Event

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 2014

CONTENTS

Paths to women’s economic empowerment — focus on tourism and textiles .............. 2

Purpose statement .......................................................................................................... 2

Why focus on tourism and textiles? .............................................................................. 3

What does the Indian Ocean Rim Association seek to achieve? ................................. 3

What does this paper seek to provide? ......................................................................... 5

Data Snapshots ............................................................................................................. 5

Gender Inequality........................................................................................................... 5

Trade Flows ................................................................................................................... 5

Tourism Activity.............................................................................................................. 6

Gross National Income................................................................................................... 6

Female Labour Force Participation Rates ...................................................................... 6

Synopsis of research into women’s economic empowerment .................................... 6

Benefits .......................................................................................................................... 6

Barriers .......................................................................................................................... 8

Key messages to put to IORA Ministers ........................................................................ 9

Benefiting over one billion women and twenty economies .............................................. 9

What information do IORA Ministers need to help them make decisions? .................... 10

What could IORA countries do to build paths to gender empowerment? ...................... 10

Menu of policy options for delegates ........................................................................... 11

Selected sources ............................................................................................................. 18

TABLES AND FIGURES

Map 1: IORA countries .......................................................................................................... 1

Table 1: IORA by the numbers ............................................................................................ 14

Table 2: Share of textiles in trade in total merchandise by region, 2012 .............................. 15

Table 3: Share of textiles in trade in total manufacturing by region, 2012 ............................ 15

Map 2: Gender Inequality Index .......................................................................................... 16

Map 3: Female Population .................................................................................................. 17

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 1

Map 1: IORA countriesi

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 2

PATHS TO WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT — FOCUS ON

TOURISM AND TEXTILES

PURPOSE STATEMENT

The purpose of this background note is to assist the deliberations of delegates to the IORA

Dialogue Event to be held in Kuala Lumpur from 17-20 August 2014. The Event is designed

so that delegates craft key messages about the paths to women’s economic empowerment

that can be presented to the IORA Council of Ministers’ meeting in Perth, Australia in

October 2014.

The Event is also designed to build awareness among IORA Member States of women's

economic empowerment issues related the priority Trade and Investment Facilitation area of

IORA's work, and to promote dialogue and exchange among IORA Member States through

panel sessions and presentations involving business networks and women traders from

IORA Member Countries.

To prompt the deliberation process of delegates, this paper seeks to explore several

questions. Why would investing in women’s economic empowerment bring benefits to one

billion women living in the IORA region and how could such investment also benefit twenty

IORA economies? What are some of the ideas that have been developed about paths to

women’s economic development in other regions or through the research of international

organisations? What are the links between women’s economic empowerment and overall

sustainable macroeconomic growth that reduces inequality?

Delegates are asked to consider what ideas about paths resonate with their lived experience

and country context, and which issues they would accord the greatest priority. Each country

in IORA is unique with different cultural, political and economic contexts. Opportunities for

women will be different, and the support necessary for women to take advantage of these

opportunities may look different in each context. Nothing in this paper is meant to be

prescriptive, rather it is designed to present a policy menu of options that delegates can

reflect on, adopt, adapt or reject as they wish.

The definition of women’s economic empowerment used in this paper has two elements.ii

Women’s Economic

Advancement

Economic success and gain for individual

women and groups of women based on

the skills and resources necessary to

compete in markets, plus fair and equal

access to economic institutions

Women’s Power and Agency

The ability of women to take and act on

decisions, and control their own resources

and profits

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 3

WHY FOCUS ON TOURISM AND TEXTILES?

This Dialogue Event will focus on tourism and textiles for several reasons. Both sectors

make significant contributions to economic activity throughout the IORA grouping. Women

are active in both sectors, especially as workers, and have the capacity to scale-up their

participation. Tourism is a service industry and often a source of foreign currency. It is a

focus for IORA due to the common factor of shared access to the Indian Ocean, and the

potential for further cooperation and growth. In 2012, tourism contributed 9% of global

Gross Domestic Product, or a value of over USD6 trillion, and accounted for 255 million jobs.

Over the next ten years this industry is expected to grow by an average of 4% annually,

taking it to 10% of global Gross Domestic Product. By 2022 it is anticipated that travel and

tourism will account for 328 million jobs, or 1 in every 10 jobs on the planet (World Travel

and Tourism, 2012).

Tourism is an industry which has potential to promote the production of local textiles, the

protection of heritage sites, and other goods and services which enhance national identity

and the broader ‘creative economy’. The data presented in Table 1 relates to rates of

international arrivals, but there is also considerable economic contribution made by domestic

tourism.

We can think about textiles in a variety of ways in this forum: as the expression of cultural

and national identity; as part of a production chain that leads to clothing, homewares and

other value-added goods; as textiles for export as part of international trade in merchandise;

or for sale at a local village market stall. Women participate in textiles industries in the IORA

grouping in a wide spectrum of roles: as artisans and artists, workers in garment factories,

fashion designers, owners of small to medium enterprises (SMEs), exporters and importers,

officials and regulators. In 2011, trade in exports of clothing and textiles contributed over

USD706 billion to the global economy. Several IORA countries are major exporters of

textiles and clothing.

WHAT DOES THE INDIAN OCEAN RIM ASSOCIATION SEEK TO ACHIEVE?

Established in 1997, the IORA Ministers agreed to six priority areas of cooperation in 2011.

These are: maritime safety and security, trade and investment facilitation, fisheries

management, disaster risk management, academic and science & technology cooperation,

and tourism and cultural exchanges.

IORA is a region that has at least four distinct attributes:

1. The region holds over 2 billion people, with over a billion women and girls

2. It is a region that has been woven together by trade routes and sea lanes for

hundreds of years

3. It is still the centre of world trade — with the Indian Ocean hosting half the world’s

container ships at any one time

4. It is a site of immense cultural diversity

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 4

The IORA Perth Communiqué 2013 states at paragraph 19:

The empowerment of women and girls in the region is a high priority for IORA

This was because the empowerment of women and girls in the region was identified as an

important cross-cutting issue for two reasons cited on the IORA website:

“…women have been important contributors to the economic and social

development of the countries in the region - a fact that needs to be

acknowledged and strengthened within the Association in the future”.

“Empowering women and girls is regarded as an essential part of the solution to

some of the most serious global challenges of today: food security, poverty

reduction and sustainable development”.

“Education is emphasised as key to women's empowerment. It expands

women's opportunities, enhances their capacity to develop their full potential and

contributes to more equal gender relationships.” iii

IORA has set policy parameters that delegates can consider:

— the development of a framework for integrating gender perspectives in its programmes

and activities and supporting gender analysis and equality in view of scaling up its

efforts to close gender gaps, enhance economic growth and strengthen the

sustainability of development initiatives undertaken within the region.

— initiatives and efforts in the education sector that serve to promote women's education

in the fields of science and technology and arrangements for training programmes for

the empowerment and capacity-building of women in the region should receive

attention within each priority area.

— [Initiatives which] strengthen women's economic capacity through education and

training in business and entrepreneurship.

— Policy reforms aiming at removing barriers to women's ownership and leadership

should be promoted.

— Gender-sensitive data bases and systems may also be developed to consolidate

women's knowledge and experience in sustainable resource use and management.

— IORA may collaborate with other regional and international organisations working in

the area of gender which could provide constructive strategies, insights and

experiences and also allow the harmonisation of policies, approaches, and analytical

tools for gender mainstreaming with these institutions.

— IORA may create a platform for sharing of experiences and strategies on gender

mainstreaming and also for capturing fully the resources and efforts directed at gender

mainstreaming and women's empowerment.

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 5

IORA countries are very diverse, but they have one thing in common. They are seeking

sustainable macroeconomic growth and further cooperation. Women’s economic

participation and agency is one source of macroeconomic growth as per the aims of IORA,

and a source of cultural exchange.

WHAT DOES THIS PAPER SEEK TO PROVIDE?

— data snapshots of some of the key data for IORA countries in relation to gender

equality indicators, trade, tourism and gross national income (GNI)

— a synthesis of current policy approaches to women’s economic empowerment

— benefits of and barriers to women’s economic empowerment and agency, with a focus

on areas of textiles and tourism

— options for key messages on this topic for consideration of delegates

— a menu of policy options for workshop participants to consider, including ideas to be

progressed by the IORA grouping, or individual IORA countries.

Data Snapshots

IORA maps of key areas are provided to delegates to assist them to visualise how diverse

the region really is. Four areas are mapped, showing the variance in gender inequality,

gross national income, trade and tourism.

Gender Inequality

Data and rankings are provided for IORA countries about the overall conditions of life for

women in Table 1 and mapped in Map 2. Gender Inequality Indicators are provided by

reference to data from the United Nations Development Program Human Development

Report. The Gender Inequality Index relies on data from major publicly available databases,

including

— the maternal mortality ratio from the United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation

Group (MMEIG), the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank;

— adolescent fertility rates from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affair’s

World Population Prospects;

— educational attainment statistics from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics educational

attainment tables and the Barro-Lee data sets;

— parliamentary representation from the International Parliamentary Union; and

— labour market participation from the International Labour Organization’s Key Indicators

of the Labour Market (KILM) 7th Edition.

The world average score on the GII is 0.463, reflecting a percentage loss in achievement

across the three dimensions due to gender inequality of 46.3 per cent.

Trade Flows

The second column in Table 1 seeks to represent overall trade flows by IORA countries,

based on World Bank data. There are some figures for trade in textiles and clothing, but we

are looking broadly at merchandise trade as a share of GDP (which is the sum of

merchandise exports and imports divided by the value of GDP in 2012 USD).

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 6

We cannot yet present data on trade flows in particular goods or services across the IORA

region, but this is a useful ambition for IORA.

Tourism Activity

The tourism data in Table 1 is sourced from the World Bank and looks at international

arrivals (airports, ports, land borders) in IORA countries in 2010. There is also domestic

tourism not captured by this table.

Gross National Income

Gross national income (Table 1) is a measure most of us are more familiar with, but has a

gender impact because it does not generally include unpaid care work, which is undertaken

mainly by women all around the globe.

Female Labour Force Participation Rates

This is an important area to be concerned with data and evidence, as it is fundamental to

arguments about economic growth for the nation as a whole, so have featured this data out

of the general focus on gender inequality. Map 3 is based on data collected by the World

Bank (World Development Indicators, 2013), and the Key Indicators of the Labour Market

(KILM) 7th Edition.

SYNOPSIS OF RESEARCH INTO WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

Benefits

Women make up a little over half the world’s population, but their contribution to measured

economic activity, growth, and well-being is considered by mainstream economic institutions

to be below its potential.

There is widespread agreement that focusing on women in development and poverty-

reduction programs had overall benefits for the target community. There is also international

legal commitment through treaty law to the rights and status of women. The Convention for

the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the

UN General Assembly in 1979 and now has 187 state parties. All IORA states have signed

except Iran.

The Convention contains a broad definition of discrimination in Article 1, covering both

equality of opportunity (formal equality) and equality of outcome (de facto or substantive

equality):

[D]iscrimination against women violates the principles of equality of rights and

respect for human dignity, is an obstacle to the participation of women, on equal

terms with men, in the political, social, economic and cultural life of their

countries, hampers the growth of the prosperity of society and the family and

makes more difficult the full development of the potentialities of women in the

service of their countries and of humanity.

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 7

The Convention requires states to take legal and other measures to ensure the practical

realisation of the principle of sex equality (Article 2). The Convention covers a broad range

of areas where state parties must work to eliminate discrimination.iv Article 4 allows for

affirmative action, in the form of temporary special measures designed to accelerate de facto

equality such as quotas in employment, education, financial services and politics to

overcome historical barriers.

The major global economic institutions have been providing evidence since 2006 that when

women are able to develop their full labour market potential, there can be significant

macroeconomic gains for the nation (Elborgh-Woytek et al, 2013). Some studies have put

the figure as high as a 27 percent increase for some regions (Aguirre). It is not just the

quantum of growth that interests economists but the quality of the growth. Growing evidence

from the OECD is that high rates of inequality hamper sustainable growth. More inclusive

growth based on women’s participation is more sustainable in the longer term.

The World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development released by the

World Bank urged states to close differences in access to economic opportunities and the

ensuing earnings and productivity gaps between women and men. The Bank advocates

increasing access to child care and early childhood development, and investing in rural

women (World Bank 2012). These are social policy recommendations, but driven by an

economic growth goal.

These World Bank studies usually focus on the potential of female labour force participation.

Between 1980 and 2008, 52 million women joined the labour force, which equates to 52

percent of all workers globally. Men’s participation rates declined only slightly from 82

percent in 1980 to 78 percent in 2008.v The rise in female labour force participation can be

attributed to rising education levels, economic development, anti-discrimination measures &

declining fertility rates.

‘Womenomics’ is posited to have several overall macro benefits:

— Some argue that higher female work force participation would also result in a more

skilled labour force, in view of women’s higher education levels (Steinberg and

Nakane, 2012)

— Studies have shown that women in developing countries are more likely than men to

invest a large proportion of their household income in the education of their children.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), women’s work, both paid and

unpaid, may be the single most important poverty-reducing factor in developing

economies (Heintz, 2006)

— The benefits can be very large. Detailed studies have modelled that increasing the

female workforce participation in developed economies such as Australia, using the

same policy measures that our comparator Canada has successfully implemented

(tax, welfare reform and affordable childcare), would add AUD25 billion to Australia’s

gross domestic product, without affecting male employment rates.vi

Significant evidence supports the formal and informal education of women and girls as the

foundation for women’s participation in the formal economy in the longer term. As the

Australian Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Senator Michaelia Cash, stated

at the United Nations earlier this year: “Education is the anti-poverty vaccine for women”.vii

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 8

Other benefits of women’s economic empowerment for economic governance need more

research. The employment of women on an equal basis should allow companies to make

better use of the available talent pool, with potential growth implications (Barsh and Yee,

2012). There is evidence (contested) of a positive impact of women’s presence on boards

and in senior management on companies’ performance. Companies employing female

managers are likely to be better positioned to serve consumer markets dominated by women

(OECD 2012).

There might also be better corporate governance (OECD 2012) and risk management

(Coates and Herbert, 2008) from more diversity on boards. As IMF head Christine Lagarde

famously said: “Gender-dominated environments are not good... particularly in the financial

sector where there are too few women.”viii

Barriers

Despite these benefits, female labour force participation has remained lower than male

participation, and in several nations, the rates are in decline.

Some proponents try to focus attention on structural and cultural barriers to participation in

the formal economy, and point out that women’s unpaid work in the care economy is not

valued by mainstream economic theory. The solution they propose is to recognise and value

women’s dual roles as breadwinners and caregivers, and to provide incentives for further

participation in the formal workforce.

— Barriers to women’s economic empowerment include the following:

— Women do the majority of unpaid work especially in areas of care and domestic labour

— When women are employed in paid work, they are overrepresented in the informal

sector with temporary or precarious working arrangements

— Women also face significant wage differentials vis-à-vis their male colleagues

— In many countries, legal, social and cultural barriers to joining the labour market restrict

women’s options for paid work

— Female representation in public and private sector leadership positions and on boards,

as well as rates of female entrepreneurship remains low

— Women are in occupational segregation with high risk during transition to international

markets – women are concentrated in sectors, industries, occupations, and jobs with

lower average productivity

— Women often have lower level education and literacy rates

— Women often do unpaid work rarely gets recognition at a societal level

— Women experience more obstacles in accessing land, financial services, technology,

information, other productive resources, and markets

— Approximately one in three women experience violence in their private and public lives

Trade barriers

Evidence shows that international trade tends to increase the availability of formal but mostly

low-skilled, labour-intensive and low value-added jobs in developing countries, with most of

these jobs in export-oriented having been filled by women in recent decades. Many women

are also involved in informal trade.

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 9

The UN states:

Measures such as access to credit, social safety nets – such as health insurance

– transport, foreign currency exchange, infrastructure for storage of goods,

refrigeration of agricultural commodities and transport facilities, as well as access

to health care, water and sanitation facilities and security services, and training

of customs and police officers about women's rights, would greatly improve

informal traders' activity and enhance their contribution to wealth creation and

poverty reduction. ix

The UN has found that important structural barriers are preventing women to benefit from

trade-orientation; these include: women and girls' limited access to education and skills,

including in cutting-edge educational fields; de jure and de facto discrimination against

women in the control over economic and financial resources, productive assets and access

to financial services; and women’s limited access to new technologies for production,

training, information and marketing.

Trade policy should thus consider how it can enable women to become key actors in those

sectors of the economy that benefit most from trade; it should provide development

pathways for women into more technologically advanced and dynamic sectors of the

economy; and account for the likely effects of widening or closing the gender wage gap and

reducing women’s time poverty.

Tourism barriers

According to the Global Report on Women in Tourism, tourism is one of the world's largest

generators of wealth and employment, and provides a wide range of income-generation

opportunities for women, particularly in developing regions. Women are almost twice as

likely to be employers in tourism as compared to others sectors. Tourism also offers

leadership possibilities, with women accounting for one in five tourism ministers worldwide;

more than in any other branch of government.

Nevertheless, women are often concentrated in low-skill, low-paid and precarious jobs,

typically earn 10% to 15% less than their male counterparts, and tend to perform jobs such

as cooking, cleaning and hospitality (UN Women 2010) which conform to societal roles for

many cultures.

KEY MESSAGES TO PUT TO IORA MINISTERS

Benefiting over one billion women and twenty economies

All existing economic data tells us that tourism is a source of growth, and that trade,

especially in textiles and clothing is a source of growth. Investing in women in these areas is

a source of sustainable economic growth for the whole community, as well as a fulfilment of

individual human rights and social potential for women. There is much that IORA countries

can do in the short term, and with relatively little effort, regulatory reform or cost, to provide

incentives to women to participate for their benefit and the benefit of the whole society.

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 10

IORA countries can acknowledge the broader foundation for women’s economic

empowerment. IORA countries can strive to improve the employment conditions, access

and quality of jobs including in the informal economy and promote family-friendly policies

and workplace practices to ensure that both women and men are able to maximize their

productivity, and have access to social protection benefits. The World Bank has identified

that the common constraints facing many women in participating in the formal economy

include lack of mobility, time due to unpaid care work, skills, exposure to violence, and the

absence of basic legal rights (World Bank, 2012).

What information do IORA Ministers need to help them make decisions?

— Other international organisations, regional groupings and states have found it useful to

conduct gender analysis of macroeconomic policy. Kenya is a good example of such

as approach.x The different impacts of macroeconomic policy on women and men can

be evaluated and incorporated into the design of programs. IORA can cooperate to

enhance the ability of governments to conduct gender analysis.

— The IORA grouping could support member countries in collecting and analysing sex-

disaggregated data, including those related to unpaid care work and informal traders,

and on designing appropriate questionnaires and evaluating the information gathered.

— The IORA grouping could support the development of research from the private or

public sector on gender diversity in public and private-sector leadership positions in the

IORA region, and pool country results.

— The IORA grouping could strengthen public-private collaboration, including through the

exchange and dissemination of best practices domestically and with other IORA

economies to share knowledge on effective strategies, to encourage positive action

which promote women’s participation in decision-making and leadership roles.

— IORA countries or the IORA grouping could promote the development of mechanisms

which encourage transparency and disclosure of gender diversity in the public and

private sectors in IORA countries.

— IORA countries or the IORA grouping could establish a baseline for data on women in

formal trade and/or tourism in IORA countries and pool the results – using a

participatory methodology to explore what women themselves identify as hurdles to

their participation in the formal economy.

What could IORA countries do to build paths to gender empowerment?

— IORA countries could consider the growth potential of women participating in the

formal economy, and the potential of their participation in the creative economy,

including tourism and textile production.

— IORA countries could prioritise employment opportunities for women, especially

building women’s livelihoods through vocational education and skills in the areas of

trade and tourism.

— IORA countries could focus on gender impacts of trade policy, including ensuring

women’s access to cross borders safely and access markets in safety.

— IORA countries could support changes to legislation that encourage women’s role in

their economies through decent work without discrimination, in line with the

Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination against Women.

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 11

— IORA countries could provide incentives and support to women business leaders to

lead change in their countries.

— IORA countries could integrate gender-specific perspectives at the design stage of

policy and programming, especially in relation to textiles and tourism.

— IORA countries could consider reforms which provide more equitable access for

women to assets and services – land, water, technology, innovation and credit,

banking and financial services.

MENU OF POLICY OPTIONS FOR DELEGATES

This menu of options considers what could make a difference to easing the path to more

participation by women in trade and tourism. It considers actions that the IORA grouping

could progress and actions for IORA countries to progress individually.

Women’s Power and Agency Women’s Economic

Advancement

The ability of women to take and act on

decisions, and control their own resources

and profits

Economic success and gain for individual

women and groups of women, based on the

skills and resources necessary to compete

in markets, plus fair and equal access to

economic institutions

Policy frameworks

1. IORA countries could consider a structured

program of policy development and gender-

aware capacity building for cultural and

creative industries, with a focus on textiles, as

part of their ‘creative economy’ plan.

2. IORA countries could develop Gender-

Sensitive Trade Policy, based on UNCTAD

precedents, for example:

— Incorporating gender components in

Aid-for-Trade and other development

assistance mechanisms

— Gender analysis in the configuration of

trade agreements

— Assessing gender-related impacts of a

trade agreement before adoption

Education and training

1. IORA countries could help enhance the

capacities of women entrepreneurs to sell

goods and services in new markets

(domestic and international) and expand

sales in existing markets; including through

state-sponsored IORA festivals, showcases

and trade fairs, encouraging them to export,

participate in local and global supply chains,

and take advantage of government

procurement programs where feasible

2. IORA countries could commit to deliver

functional adult literacy relevant to trade

delivered at workplaces, coupled with more

childcare facilities.

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 12

3. IORA countries could develop Gender-

Aware Tourism Development Strategies, as

part of their ‘creative economy’ plan.

Encourage leadership and take policy

advice from women practitioners

4. Noting that APEC has a Policy Partnership

on Women and the Economy – IORA could

create a more specific version of this, such as

an ‘Expert group on IORA Women in Trade’,

or an ‘Expert group on Women in Tourism’.

Alternatively, each existing national trade

advisory group or tourism council to nominate

a female member to liaise with a new IORA

network. Countries could give their Ministry

for Women a remit to review and propose

reforms to trade and tourism policy.

5. IORA countries could consider appointing

national champions and special IORA envoys

for women’s entrepreneurship (based on

Sweden).

6. The IORA Grouping could create new

awards:

— IORA awards for Women in Business –

Tourism and Trade categories

— IORA Creative Economy Awards

— Awards for government agencies in

IORA who show most initiative in

encouraging women to navigate the

regulatory environment.

Create sharing platforms

7. The IORA Grouping could support

advocacy platforms of women informal

traders for promoting an enabling

environment for their business and access to

better services.

3. IORA countries could support the launch

of an IORA regional women’s

entrepreneurship network or networks to

assist women entrepreneurs in all IORA

economies in better connecting to each

other, and expanding their channels and

opportunities to engage in regional trade

and economic cooperation.

Platforms and Networks

4. IORA countries could encourage women

to set up and participate in various business

networks to form new business partnerships

with both men and women, including

business mentor-protégé relationships.

5. The IORA Grouping could facilitate

contacts, coaching and sharing of

experiences among women entrepreneurs.

6. The IORA Grouping could facilitate the

linkages between women-owned/managed

micro and small enterprises and larger

national or multinational firms. It could link

women engaged in boutique tourism to

international tourism operators.

Regulatory Incentives

7. IORA countries could provide incentives

for women to navigate regulatory and legal

environment relevant to trade and tourism in

their system. For example, IORA countries

could set a voluntary target for women

accessing institutional regulatory regimes

for trade and tourism — such as 20%

increase in women getting relevant permits,

or access to grants, or access to ports, or

gender targets in procurement policies, or

20% more women accessing STEM

training.

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 13

8. IORA countries could support women’s

associations and collective action in the areas

of trade and tourism.

9. IORA countries could support broad-based

effective participation of women and women’s

groups in trade consultations and negotiations

as well as in trade policy-making and related

implementation.

Regional conversations

10. IORA could hold a conversation with

APEC or other regional organisations to

discuss the utility of policy frameworks

dealing with women’s economic

empowerment.

11. The IORA grouping could consider

advocating for the next round of reforms at

the World Trade Organisation to focus on

domestic actions designed to boost women’s

participation in trade, particularly tourism and

trade in textiles.

8. IORA countries could support female

entrepreneurship and set specific programs

to help women overcome business start-up

obstacles and expand their businesses,

including, inter alia, improving their access

to credit and other means of production,

providing training on business strategy,

management, operation, marketing, etc.

making information on trade policies, market

opportunities and regulatory environments

in IORA economies available to women,

and offering relevant support services and

facilities. The IORA grouping could develop

a workshop of this nature that could travel

the region.

9. IORA countries could support the

development of e-commerce, encourage

and train women to make use of ICT for

self-employment and to start and grow their

businesses, and to engage in regional trade

cooperation.

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 14

Table 1: IORA by the numbers

GDP per capita

2012

Tourism –

International

Arrivals 2010

Trade in

Merchandise

WTO 2012

Gender

Inequality

Index 2013

Australia 34,548 5,885,000 33.8 0.115/ rank 2

Bangladesh 1,568 303,000 51.1 0.518/ rank

146

Comoros 980 15,000 54.5 Rank 169

India 3, 203 5,776,000 42.1 0.61/ rank 136

Indonesia 4, 094 7,003,000 43.2 0.494/ rank

121

Iran 10.462 2,938,000 30.2 0.496/ rank 76

Kenya 1,507 1,470,000 55.7 0.608/ rank

145

Madagascar 853 196,000 46 Rank 151

Malaysia 13,672 24,577,000 139 0.256/ rank 64

Mauritius 12,737 935,000 68.6 0.377/ rank 80

Mozambique 861 1,718,000 75.8 0.582/ rank

185

Oman 25,330 1,048,000 103.5 0.34/ rank 84

Seychelles 23,172 175,000 125.6 Rank 46

Singapore 53,591 9,161,000 274.7 0.101/ rank 18

South Africa 9.678 8,074,000 54.9 0.462/ rank

121

Sri Lanka 4,929 654,000 48.1 0.402/ rank 92

Tanzania 1.334 754,000 58.8 0.566/ rank

152

Thailand 7.633 15,936,000 130.4 0.36/ rank 103

United Arab

Emirates 42,293 135.5 0.241/ rank 41

Yemen 2,060 1,025,000 64.1 0.747/ rank

160

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 15

Table 2: Share of textiles in trade in total merchandise by region, 2012

Table 3: Share of textiles in trade in total manufacturing by region, 2012

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 16

Map 2: Gender Inequality Index

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 17

Map 3: Female Population

Paths to women’s economic empowerment 18

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i Produced by CartoGIS, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. ii

There is no accepted definition of women’s economic empowerment in international law as yet, and there are a

variety of ways the phrase is used by the UN, the OECD, the World Bank and states. The definition used in this

paper using the two elements of success and power is based on the report by the International Center for

Research on Women by Ann Marie Gollo, Anju Malhotra, Priya Nanda and Rekha Mehra, Understanding and

Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: definition, framework and indices (2011, Washington). They state

at p. 4: “A woman is economically empowered when she has both the ability to succeed and advance

economically and the power to make and act on economic decisions.”

iii IORA website “Gender Empowerment’, available at http://www.iora.net/about-us/priority-areas/gender-

empowerment.aspx iv

These provisions include political and public life (Article 7), international organisations (Article 8), education

(Article 10), employment (Article 11), health care (Article 12), financial credit (Article 13b), cultural life (Article

13c), the rural sector (Article 14), the law (Article 15) and marriage (Article 16).

vA visual representation can be seen here: http://go.worldbank.org/9V87N19PJ0

vi Grattan Institute, Game-Changers: Economic reform priorities for Australia, 2012, p. 22.

vii Commission for the Status of Women 58, March 2014.

viii Christine Lagarde: 'There should never be too much testosterone in one room' The Independent, 7 February

2011.

ix UN Womenwatch, Gender Equality & Trade Policy, 2011 available at

www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/trade/gender_equality_and_trade_policy.pdf x Maureen Were and Jane Kiringai, Gender Mainstreaming In Macroeconomic Policies and Poverty Reduction

Strategy in Kenya, Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, 2004, available at

http://www.sarpn.org/documents/d0000832/index.php.